Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-10290 on 24 October 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The grant to the Scottish Maritime Cluster Limited was made in line with set objectives none of which have any impact on (a) piers and (b) harbours on the Clyde and Hebrides ferry services contract.

The Scottish Government have invested over £50 million in ChargePlace Scotland, Scotland’s public charging network, which now has more than 2300 publicly available charge points, over 63 thousand member registrations and over 1,770,000 successful charge sessions recorded in the last 12 months.

Responsibility for repair of charge points lies with the host (also known as the ‘owner’) who procured and installed the charge point. The role of CPS is to advise hosts of faults as they arise.

Most faults on the network are transient and in the majority of cases require no physical intervention. This means that a high proportion are closed down swiftly and effectively. Overall reliability across the CPS network is typically very good and on average 95% - 97% of charge points are operational each day.

The subject of correspondence cases varies. These are not recorded or categorised by reason or by local authority area. Each piece of correspondence is dealt with on its own merit, given careful consideration with appropriate actions taken at the time of responding.

In 2021 we received 124 pieces of correspondence relating to ChargePlace Scotland and 80 in 2022.

The recently re-established Headteacher Recruitment and Retention Working Group works jointly with education stakeholders to develop, agree and take forward actions to help improve the recruitment and retention of headteachers in Scotland. The group has been meeting on a quarterly basis since January 2022 with the last meeting taking place on 7 September 2022.

ScotRail has challenging performance targets to deliver and it is expected to work in close partnership with Network Rail to ensure passengers are provided with a reliable and punctual service.

As the member will be aware, ScotRail’s published reporting for the prior period (21 Aug - 17 Sep) shows that more than 9 out of 10 trains arriving at both Ayr and Girvan stations met the industry standard Public Performance Measure (PPM) target across a 12 month rolling period, and services at both stations scored above the network average on PPM.

Education Scotland recognises the effects of the pandemic on learning and those who work in education. This is why Education Scotland continues to undertake a wide range of programmes to provide additional support for learners and educators alongside all the other work being done by Education Scotland.

HM Inspectors of Education resumed the routine programme of early learning and childcare settings and school inspections in August 2022. The programme had been paused since March 2020 due to the pandemic. HM Inspectors of Education have provided advice to schools and settings outlining how they will reflect the COVID-19 context during inspections.

Education Scotland’s regional improvement teams worked with Regional Improvement Collaboratives (RICs) and local authorities to provide bespoke support throughout the pandemic and continue to do so. An example of this is the ongoing work of Attainment Advisors to support effective use of Pupil Equity Funding and a range of professional learning activities to support schools to close the poverty related attainment gap. It may be helpful to be aware of two recently published resources which add value to schools and local authority work in relation to equity and excellence: Scotland's Equity Toolkit: supporting recovery and accelerating progress (education.gov.scot) and Pupil Equity Funding: Looking inwards, outwards, forwards (education.gov.scot) .

A programme on Self-evaluation for Continuous Improvement which focuses on effective self-evaluation, a closer look at HGIOS?4 (How Good is Our School?, version 4) quality indicators, use of data for improvement, evaluative writing skills and supporting improvement conversations has been delivered to approximately 700 colleagues from the eight local authorities within the West Region between October 2021 and June 2022. Plans are in place to roll this out across other regional areas during 2022-23.

Since the launch in March 2022 Education Scotland staff have been implementing the refreshed Scottish Attainment Challenge: Framework for Recovery and Accelerating Progress. Officials have worked collaboratively with local authorities to support development of local Stretch Aims, including work with schools to ensure a shared understanding of this new approach. In line with the new Framework, Education Scotland has introduced a model of universal, targeted and intensive support. Through this new approach local authorities and schools can access additional bespoke support aimed at accelerating progress with key improvement priorities.

Officials from Education Scotland have worked across local authority areas to support curriculum development during the recovery phase so that schools can meet the needs of all learners. This has included work with Headteachers on Interdisciplinary Learning, reflecting on how children and young people learned through the pandemic, and sharing the child-centred and developmentally appropriate curriculum design approach set out in Realising the Ambition: Being Me .

The National eLearning Offer (NeLO), which was developed to support remote learning while school buildings were closed, continues to support those who may be learning remotely for any reason and offers educators with resources for use in classroom settings as well. Nearly 2,000 learners have been enrolled for Study Support sessions alone this term. NeLO offers thousands of live, interactive and recorded resources for educators and learners at all levels.

Furthermore, Education Scotland continues to provide mental health and wellbeing support for the education workforce (including schools, Community Learning and Development, and early learning and childcare settings). This support includes coaching, supervision spaces and support specifically for post-probationary teachers in the early stages of their career. This package of support has been welcomed by teachers and practitioners (92% of respondents to the Workforce Support post programme evaluation rated the quality of Workforce Support received in 21-22 as ‘good’ or ‘very good’).

Scottish Enterprise (SE) and Scottish Development International (SDI) are continuing to work closely in partnership with Scottish Power, owners of the former Longannet Power Station in Fife, as they formalise their strategy for future use of the site. SE and SDI will continue to introduce enquiries to the company where they fit with the site’s attributes and potential for development.

I wrote to all local authorities on 21 September reminding them of the importance of establishing licensing schemes in their area by 1 October. In that letter I explained that while there are no penalties under legislation for local authorities that failed to meet this deadline, there is of course a risk that local authorities could be challenged by new hosts, or anybody acting on their behalf, if they are unable to submit an application for a licence due to their local authority’s scheme not being open.

My officials spoke with Aberdeenshire Council on 26 September to understand the timeline for consideration of consultation responses and sign-off of its draft policy. These have been tabled for consideration by council sub-committees ahead of a full council meeting later this year. Prior to 1 October 2022, Aberdeenshire Council ensured its websites had information about its licensing scheme including its draft policy, a draft application form, and an email address to submit enquiries to.

I refer the member to answer to question S6W-08832 on 7 June 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at - https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

We continue to work with local authorities on plans to ensure every school-aged child has access to a device and connectivity by the end of this parliamentary term in 2026.

Taking the ongoing challenges settings and schools face in dealing with COVID-19 and stakeholder views into account, HM Inspectors of Education did not resume the routine early learning and childcare (ELC) and school inspection programme as originally planned last academic year.

HM Inspectors of Education invited ELC settings and schools to “self-select” to take part in recovery visits during the remainder of the academic year.

Overall, 164 settings and schools self-selected for a recovery visit. Due to local circumstances, including the impact of COVID-19, some recovery visits did not proceed as planned. Between March and July 2022, HM Inspectors of Education visited 148 schools and ELC settings.

The aim of the recovery visits was to learn from settings and schools about their own current priorities as they responded to the impact of the current pandemic, what was working well and the challenges education practitioners faced. The visits were tailored to the needs of each school or setting and included both online meetings and face-to-face activities.